the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his junior season, he batted .345 with 14 home runs, tying the UCF single-season record. Professional scouts considered him a first round prospect, due to his intelligence, size, ability to hit for power, his strong throwing arm, running speed, instincts and polish. Professional career The Cincinnati Reds drafted Mottola in the first round of the 1992 Major League Baseball draft with the fifth overall selection, one selection ahead of Derek Jeter. He signed with the Reds the day of the draft, receiving a signing bonus of $400,000, as he attended the United States national baseball team tryouts for the 1992 Summer Olympics, and did not want to have his contract status on his mind during the tryouts. He was the first UCF athlete to be selected in the first round of an MLB draft. In his first professional season, Mottola led the Billings Mustangs to the Pioneer League championship, batting .286 with 12 home runs and 37 runs batted in (RBIs). Baseball America rated Mottola as the 71st best prospect in baseball before the 1993 season. Playing a full season for the first time in 1993, he batted .280 for the Winston-Salem Spirits with 21 home runs and led the Class-A Advanced Carolina League with 91 RBIs. He was named a Carolina League All-Star outfielder after the 1993 season. Prior to the 1994 season, Baseball America rated Mottola as the 43rd best prospect in baseball. Mottola started the 1995 season with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class-AA Southern League, receiving a promotion to the Class-AAA Indianapolis Indians of the International League that season. Despite his minor league success, Mottola's path to the Reds was blocked by outfielders Reggie Sanders, Curtis Goodwin, Eric Davis, Vince Coleman, Mike Kelly, Steve Gibraltar and Eric Anthony, all of whom the Reds had in spring training that season. General Manager Jim Bowden commented that Mottola needed more minor league seasoning before he would be promoted to the Reds. He made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on April 22, 1996. In 35 games for the Reds, Mottola batted .215 with three home runs and six RBIs. For Indianapolis, he batted .262 with 9 home runs, 47 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 102 games. Though he was considered a top prospect, the Reds held him out of winter league baseball during the 1995–96 offseason. The Reds added